E.—l

XV

Of the 184 children admitted, 92 were destitute, 40 were living in disreputable places, 34 had been guilty of punishable offences, 10 were vagrant, 5 uncontrollable, and 3 were admitted by arrangement with their friends. As to the characters of the parents, the following table (U) seems to show that, out of the 184 cases, 42 were certainly due to misfortune alone, and 29 others possibly so, while 46 were due to the bad character of both parents, 42 to the bad character of the mother, and 25 to the bad character of the father : —

TABLE U. —Admissions classified according to Parents' Circumstances and Character, 1891.

Seven inmates died during the year In an asylum, a boy in his twentieth year, belonging to Kohimarama, an epileptic subject, at service, two girls, of about fifteen years, belonging to Burnham, one of tuberculosis, the other of scarlet fever, in hospital, a girl, belonging to Caversham, of tuberculosis, in her eighteenth year, at the Nelson school, two children, a boy of six and a girl of ten, of tuberculosis, and a boy of ten years, belonging to the Nelson school, but residing with his parents, drowned m Wellington Harbour, in the endeavour to rescue his younger brother, who had fallen into the water, and who was saved by other means. There is a sad reason for the official entry of 8 instead of 7 as the number of deaths. A Nelson inmate, a boy of thirteen, ran away from a bathing party in October, 1890, and a long search for him proved fruitless. His remains were found in March, 1891 The accounts of the Government schools are summarised in Table W

TABLE W.—Cost of Government Schools, 1891.

i The recoveries, which consist of payments made by Charitable Aid Boards and by parents, and of sales of farm produce, &c, do not come in regularly For the four quarters of the calendar year, as shown, they amount to ,£6,563, but in the four quarters of the financial year (March, 1892, to March, 1892) the income is £8,528. In the column for cost of school are included some items that cannot fairly be regarded as part of the expense of maintaining the children. For example, one item is £326, the price of sheep bought m 1891 these have been sold in 1892 for £336, and their wool for £130 Again, the distinction between the expenses of the schools and the expenditure on the boarding-out of children cannot be accurately made, the first outfit of the foster-children being supplied from the school, and a great part of the managers' time being devoted to business connected with the boardmg-out system The managers have also a great deal of responsibility for the young people at service. The salaries and rent, and the housekeeping expenses, so far as they relate to the managers and the staff, are

Mothers described as Children of Sick, TVnd Lunatic, ueaa. Disabled, &c. Of Good Not known nf t> -, Character or not r Sf!?.. Deserters, (or Poor). stated. Total. Fathers described as— Dead Sick, lunatic, disabled, &c. Of good character (or poor) Not known or not stated Of bad character Deserters 5 2 8 9 6 7 2 1 23 3 3 4 1 1 1 13 7 5 19 2 7 18 32 9 55 3 27 28 52 19 1 2 3 Totals 25 10 34 27 82 184

School. Cost of School. Cost of boarding out. Recoveries. Net Cost. LUokland [ohimarama iurnham iaversham £ s. a. 502 3 5 1,310 9 2 3 453 16 4 2,773 13 4 8,040 2 3 s s. a. 339 4 7 839 18 3 3,162 2 i 3 130 14 3 7,471 19 5 £ s. d. £ s. a. 133 8 2 707 19 10 567 18 7 1,582 8 10 2,863 4 3 3 752 14 5 2,998 10 9 2,905 16 10 6,563 19 8 948 19 11 Totals